Cake Baking Mama....

My daughter's birthday party was this past weekend. She turned 6. Well, actually she turned 6 on June 25, but due to time and money constraints we didn't celebrate it until this past weekend.

One things I did this year for both of my kids is to make their birthday cakes. I figure that at this age they will see my baking and think it's totally AWESOME.

The rest of us all know that it's not so great.

But I thought I would share some pics anyhow.

Here is the first cake:



This is a "Barbie" cake my daughter liked the idea of. I say this because I only had a written description of the cake to go by. I think it turned out pretty cute...and it was pretty easy.

Here is the second one:



This is a picture of two pair of flip flop cakes. Kya actually picked this cake out. It had ice cream in the center and whipped cream as the icing. I didn't get to taste this cake, so I'm guessing it tasted pretty good.

Yes, I made two cakes. We cannot possibly have a small party. All of our friends are too dear and important to us to ever consider not inviting them to party with us. Even if the party is centered around children of all ages skating their heart out in a skating rink, in July, with no air conditioning.

We are just lucky enough that almost everyone invited shows up.

A major life change...

So I decided I am done smoking.

For good.

I hope.

I'll be honest, I get mild anxiety attacks when I think about it. I know, I know. It's a good thing. I have mentally made a list of all of the wonderful reasons I am quitting. My friends and family are cheering for me. They are all very supportive.

But I'll be honest. I loved smoking. Smoking was MY thing. When my husband would take the kids somewhere and I would be alone I could smoke in peace and enjoy myself....

Now what am I going to do when I have some free time? From the looks of things I'll be blogging. Which is good as it keeps my hands busy.

Pray for me as I start this difficult life change!

I love to try new things...

I think everyone that knows me is very aware that I LOVE to try new things. Well thanks to Jen's recommendation I've found a great site that allows me to do this - FREE!

I am a BzzAgent! This allows me to try new things and share what I did, or did not, like about the product. I've been a member for about a month now and I am currently in one campaign. I'm still learning the ins and outs - but so far it's been pretty easy to navigate.

Come visit my BzzSite and see what it's all about!

Tax Time

Yeah, it's that time again. There are always two camps of people during this time of the year.

Camp 1:
These people KNOW they are getting money back, and alot of it. They usually have their taxes done by the end of the first week of February and usually have it spent within days of getting their check back. You can easily spot these people. They are going out to eat ALOT and buying large ticket items. It's a beautiful time of year for them.

Camp 2:
These people KNOW they are going to owe money. They wait until the very last minute to file and when taxes are mentioned they sigh and groan. Their life doesn't really change much, other than to be inconvenienced by the task of getting their taxes filed.

I really, really wish I was in the first group. I wish that I looked forward to the beginning of each year as a countdown to getting a lump sum of "free" money.

Unfortunately I'm not in that group. DH and I decided a a few years ago after listening to RICH DAD, POOR DAD that we were foolish to give away our money to the government thru the year. That our cash flow would better to take the most exemptions we could and have better cash flow throughout the year.

Don't get me wrong. The rest of the year we are pleased with our decision. We are very seldom tight. We can spend money any way we want. We go out to eat whenever we want. In a few short weeks we usually can save up for big ticket items we want or need. But we don't get "spending sprees".

I read an article in the paper this week that said that by getting large refunds families are missing their budgets by $300 a month - sometimes going into the hole, accumulating late fees etc, while they are overpaying their taxes by $400 a month. That by putting aside money for a big refund they are giving the government their hard earned money and allowing the government to use it as they see fit.

I agree. It's more important to me to be comfortable 12 months out of the year, not just "quick rich" for one month. So why am I so bummed that I don't get a big spending spree during 1 month of the year?

I swear I never learn...

Today I decided to do some couponing and to get some much needed groceries before the snow set in.

What I thought would be a 4 hour trip turned out to be an 6 hour trip. I did not factor in that some of the coupons I needed were in my husband's car at his work.

I also did not factor in the amount of time taken up by my son becoming possessed by a demon.

Now I've blogged on this before. I know that it takes about 2 hours for my children to become possessed once we've started shopping.

For some reason I was hoping that since I only had my son that the demons would not enter his body.

I was very wrong. At right around the 2 hour mark he started touching people. I don't mean walking up to them and touching them I mean he was walking along, dragging his fingers on the items on the shelf, and if a person was standing there he drug his fingers along them too.

This made for a very red faced mom! I was apologizing with a smile on my face while squeezing the bejabbers out of his arm as I held him behind me. Then when we walked into an unoccupied aisle I got on his level and gave him a firm warning. Where he cried and said he was sorry that he was starting over.

Then a few seconds later....he's doing it again. When I reach into my purse to pull out my handy dandy whipping spoon he promptly throws himself on the floor and creates a HUGE drama.

So I did what any mom would do....

I walked away and pretended he was someone else's kid.

Yet another use for Ziplock Freezer Bags...

So my kids decided that they wanted to see if they could fly. I remember wondering the same things as a child and decided not to say anything and just observe.

First they climbed onto a box that is in the living room (waiting to be taken to storage) and jump off flapping their arms.

They flapped their arms like crazy and were convinced that they flew just a little bit. But they needed a softer landing.

So they pulled the cushions off my couch and chair, lined them up and covered them with blankets.

Then they tried again. They discussed amongst themselves and decided that the landing was AWESOME but they needed to get more height. So they put another tote on top of the current tote and jumped flapping their arms with all their might.

The conversed again and decided that they flown even higher, but they needed something to give them more lift.

At this point my princess runs into the kitchen and gets into my baggie drawer. She pulls out 4 of the gallon size Ziploc freezer bags. She gets a pair of scissors for her and her brother and then instructs him how to measure his wrist and cut a hole in the bottom of the baggie.

She then helps her brother slip his baggie on and "ziplocs" them around his upper arms. He returns the favor and now they both have wings.

They climb back onto the box and proceed to "fly" for the next 45 minutes. Each time convinced they had stayed in the air even longer. Each sibling was responsible for observing the "time in air" for the other.

I am so blessed to have children that can play together, be imaginative, show teamwork and use problem solving skills. All without a word uttered from me.

Well - ok - I did say something. It was along the lines of -

"If you two break something - either my candleholders or your body parts - you are getting a whippin."

That's Mom of the Year stuff right there.

So clear and yet I still didn't see it.

So today I had MOPS. I mentioned in my post below. This is my Mothers of Preschoolers meeting.

Today the speaker talked about The 5 Love Languages. As I've stated before, this is familiar territory.

But one this that became clear to me....I can use this with people in my life BESIDES my DH.

My life will be so much better (I hope) if I fill my kids, mother, and friend's love tanks.

I spent some time today figuring out what language my kids speak. Unfortunately they speak languages that are difficult for my.

My princess speaks Words of Affirmation as her primary and physical touch as her secondary.

My prince speaks Touch first, and Quality Time second.

The Words of Affirmation are pretty easy. Which is probably why princess and I get a long for the most part.

It's all so clear now. Physical touch for me is very low in importance. So I avoid it. That's not to say that I'm not affectionate with my children. I am. They are always getting hugs and kisses. But they need more than that.

Now that I GET IT I can be pro active with this and fill up my kiddos tanks. Which should make for a happier more cohesive family unit.

Let me know what you think. Has anyone out there tried this with their own kids? Is it logical? Any success stories? If anyone has any questions please post them as well. I would love to help walk you through the thought process on this one.